Harvard orders evacuations after unconfirmed reports of explosives

Share Update:

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

Four buildings at Harvard University were evacuated Monday morning after the school received an unconfirmed report that bombs may have been placed there, the Boston-area school said on Twitter and its website.

Monday morning’s final exams in the affected buildings have been canceled because of the report, student newspaper The Harvard Crimson posted on Twitter, citing Harvard Dean of Freshmen Thomas Dingman.

No explosions have been reported, Harvard emphasized. Evacuations were ordered at three academic buildings — the Harvard Science Center, Sever Hall and Emerson Hall — and a freshman dormitory, Thayer Hall, the school said.

“Out of an abundance of caution, the buildings have been evacuated while the report is investigated,” Harvard said on the emergency page of its website. “Harvard’s focus is on the safety of our students, faculty and staff.”

Harvard University and Cambridge police were on the scene investigating. The bomb report was made by phone, and the FBI is also among the investigating agencies, a law enforcement official told CNN.

Some students were taking final exams in the affected buildings when the evacuations were ordered, said student Sam Weinstock, incoming president of The Harvard Crimson.

At least some of the evacuees were taken to a freshman dining hall, where they were told their Monday morning exams would be canceled, Weinstock told CNN.

Elsewhere on campus, Weinstock said, students were “more or less going about their days.”

The school notified the campus community of the evacuations through its emergency alert system, which includes text and e-mail messages, Weinstock said.

Harvard’s final exams for the fall term began last week and are scheduled to go through Friday.